"To-morrow, if I am better, you will take me out on the terrace, in the open air."
I interrupted her.
"To-morrow, I shall not be here."
She trembled at my strange voice. I added, without waiting:
"I am going..."
Then, making a violent effort to loosen my tongue, and terrified like a man who must strike a second blow to put his victim to death, I added hastily:
"I am going to Florence."
"Ah!"
She had suddenly understood. She turned round with a rapid movement, she twisted herself on her cushions to look me in the face; and in that tragic pose, I saw again the whites of her eyes and her bloodless gum.
"Juliana!" I stammered, without finding anything else to say to her, bending toward her, fearing she would faint.